Governor Alex Otti of Abia State disclosed that Nigeria spent a staggering N7.8 trillion on food imports over the past six years. He urged Nigerians to adopt agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency and advocated for the establishment of agricultural projects nationwide to address food insecurity.

Speaking at a capacity-building training program for 300 agricultural trainees in Nassarawa State, Otti highlighted agriculture’s crucial role in ensuring food security, reducing unemployment, and promoting socio-economic stability.

He emphasized that Nigeria’s abundant arable land makes it unnecessary to rely heavily on imports, and stressed the need for a paradigm shift and urgent action from stakeholders to address this issue.

He stated, “It is a shame that a country of over 200 hundred million people with so much arable land, reputed as the largest producers and cultivators of food items spend so much money importing food.

“Statistics show that in the last six years, this country has spent about N7.8 trillion to import food.

“In 2021, we spent about N1.9 trillion, 2022 & 2023 we spent about N2 trillion each year importing food, so to put it in context, our budget for 2024 is somewhere around N28 trillion; 27.5 trillion and then upgraded to about N28 trillion.

“Don’t also forget that these kind of numbers were not seen between 2015 and 2019. The budget numbers were hovering around 7-10 trillion. So when you spend over 11% of your total buffet importing food, it is a big shame, particularly when you are blessed with land.”

Governor Otti emphasized that the two-week agricultural training aims to boost local food production and encouraged participants to serve as ambassadors for the state, leveraging this opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills that will drive agricultural growth in Abia State.

He assured the trainees that the state government will provide full support, covering all expenses from start to finish, to ensure their success in spearheading agricultural transformation.